Saturday, August 17, 2013

Winner and some STEM insights!

Thank you to everyone who responded to my technology post. And if you really thought I was talking crazy, sorry.

Congrats Cindy on being my winner and writing the awesome expanded definition of technology {here, just scroll up!}.

I recently attended an AWESOME workshop about all the ways to incorporate STEM into my classroom. I knew what STEM stood for: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. But I had NO IDEA how to really incorporate more science and engineering into my classroom. Yup, I skipped over the T in STEM because I thought I really had technology down and I was using it. Boy was I wrong. I found out that technology is anything that is human-made and it doesn't have to be used by electricity or with batteries. So we did this activity called Mystery Bag. Yes, if you do show-n-tell you know all about a mystery bag. But inside the mystery bag were all these common materials: light bulb, brad, paper clip, plastic container, pen etc. that we normally use just every day and don't think anything of it. But really they are considered technology... even a pocket chart is technology! So if you were (or are) the teacher who says that they don't use STEM in their classroom, you might use 3 out of the 4 letters every day and just not know it. If you want to learn how to use more of the E in STEM, check out these websites/blogs (some courtesy of Cindy from Kindergarten Love/Scientifically Science Fun):

I hope these are helpful... STEM is already spinning around in my head trying to make me figure out how to incorporate it all...:) What is one new thing you can incorporate in your classroom that deals with the four parts of STEM. Leave your comment below. Enjoy!